


say that you'll hold me forever

by hi_raeth



Series: reblog (mini fics + prompt fills) [20]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Fae!Kylo, Kinda, Pregnancy, Serious Pillow Talk, baby daddy to soulmate, human!rey, they're so in love UGH THESE IDIOTS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25089490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_raeth/pseuds/hi_raeth
Summary: Both Rey and fae prince Kylo Ren got more than they bargained for when she promised him her firstborn in exchange for her foster mother's life: Kylo didn't expect to father the firstborn he asked for, and Rey didn't expect to catch feelings for her supernatural baby daddy.Eight months into their agreement, Rey decides it's time for them to work things out. No time like the present, after all — especially if the present happens to involve some post-coital cuddles.Loosely based on this prompt from the Reylo Prompts account.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: reblog (mini fics + prompt fills) [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1048628
Comments: 62
Kudos: 353





	say that you'll hold me forever

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Hadestown's _All I've Ever Known_.

They’re lying in the dark, hearts racing and chests heaving, all curled up together in her tiny bed so neither of them tumble down to the unforgiving ground.

It’s a familiar sight to the four walls of her bedroom, one that speaks of how… routine this has all become. In the beginning they’d simply reasoned with each other that magically heightened fertility or not, it was still highly unlikely that just once would do the trick – and so Rey had invited the fae prince to her bed night after night, determined to uphold her end of their bargain in exchange for the magic he’d worked on her ailing foster mother.

And after… well, _after_ she’d pointed out that it was entirely his fault that she was now horny all the goddamn time, and Kylo Ren, father of her unborn child, had graciously conceded that it seemed only fair for him to offer up his services for the rest of her pregnancy.

It’s an agreement that has served them well so far, carrying them all the way into the eighth month of their acquaintance – though the casual descriptor they’d settle on in the beginning seems wholly inadequate now that Rey has gotten used to the feeling of his arms curled around her and his lips pressed to her skin, now that she’s finally realized how much she’ll miss this – him – _them_ when it’s all over.

 _If,_ she reminds herself, and draws enough strength from that little spark of possibility, of hope, to finally speak up.

“The fae cannot tell lies, right?”

It’s not the first time one of them has broken the heavy silence that hangs between them during moments like these, when they hold each other like lovers and whisper secrets into the cover of night, but the arm slung around her middle still tenses infinitesimally as the sound of her voice catches Kylo off guard.

“Who did you hear that from?” he asks after a missed beat, voice little more than a warm breath ghosting across her skin. His lips tickle the side of her neck as he draws her closer, his front curling around her back as if he can block out the rest of the world this way, suspend them in their own secret in-between realm for a little longer.

It’s the kind of non-answer the fae are famous for, the kind of workaround an entire species develops almost like a biological reflex in lieu of the ability to tell untruths. More often than not this clever way with words work to their advantage, but today Rey is determined to harness it for her own purposes, to brandish it as her last – and perhaps only – weapon in this race against time that threatens to take away Kylo and their child and the only bit of happiness, of _belonging,_ that she has ever known.

“Maz,” Rey tells him with a shrug, even though she’s not the one in this bed who’s obligated to answer all questions. She just… she likes telling him things, likes the way he holds her and listens and understands, likes the way his arms have started to feel like home.

Once, back in the beginning, back when they were still just strangers sharing a bed and a goal, Maz had warned her of this exact thing. Her foster mother had grown pale the second she’d forced Rey to reveal the details of her bargain with the fae prince, and the look on her face had been nothing short of mournful as she drew Rey into her arms and lamented that she had no idea what she’d agreed to, that no old woman’s life was worth the heartache in store for her.

Rey had been so _blind_ then, stubbornly insisting that of course it was all worth it, that she couldn’t miss what she’d never known, that giving up the baby and saying goodbye to Kylo would hurt a thousand times less than losing Maz would have.

Now, though… now she knows just how wrong she’d been, knows exactly why Maz had looked at her with tears in her ancient, knowing eyes that day.

“I didn’t realize you talk to your mother about me,” Kylo teases, his voice almost light enough to hide his nerves. No one likes being confronted with their weakness, but a part of Rey thinks – hopes – _prays_ that maybe, just maybe, he has other reasons to be nervous about this turn in their conversation.

There’s only one way to find out.

And when she gets her answer, when Kylo sets their future in stone one way or another, Rey wants to be looking him right in the eye.

At nearly eight months pregnant, it’s a challenge to roll from one side to another in her crowded little bed so that she can face him. Kylo immediately helps her, maintaining one arm around her middle while the other reaches out to support her back until they’re face to face, until his hands rest clasped together upon her lower back and her palms press against his chest like a lovers’ embrace.

The realization – the fear – that they might never share another moment like this again gives her the push she needs to go on.

“Why are you still here?”

It comes out softer than she’d intended, the air in her lungs stolen by the look in his eyes as one hand starts tracing affectionate swirls on her hip.

He misses a swirl and draws a jagged line across her back, but if not for that Rey would never have guessed that her words had any effect on him whatsoever. The look in his eyes falters for barely a second, and his lips twitch with a grin as he resumes his tracing on her bare skin.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She’d found the grin charming once, in the beginning, when she’d privately admitted to herself and only herself that upholding her end of the bargain would be no chore. But in the days and nights since Rey has familiarized herself with his smile, his _true_ smile, and everything else pales in comparison to the soft curve of his lips when he lets his guard down and allows her a glimpse of the man behind the mask, the man she’s grown dangerously fond of.

At this very moment though, that fondness is nowhere to be found. She knows the fae are slippery by nature, had anticipated that this wouldn’t be easy, but his non-answers are frustrating nonetheless. There’s a trick to this, Maz had told her, a way to ask the right questions and receive the right answers, but a part of her still shies away from the idea of asking him point-blank even though she’d called for him tonight knowing that she was prepared to risk it all.

In a rare moment of cowardice, she decides to persist with her current line of questioning. “This wasn’t part of our deal,” Rey reminds him with a huff. “Hell, none of it was. That very first day, when the bargain was struck and I… I…”

“Asked me to impregnate you?” Kylo supplies oh-so-helpfully, his grin growing wider as the hand on her lower back strays lower still.

Blood rushes to her cheeks at the reminder, but she won’t be deterred – not even by his wandering hands. Rey reaches back with one hand – the one not pressed to his heart, which seems to be beating just a little faster than before – and stops him before he strays _too_ low.

“You didn’t have to say yes,” she points out. “You could have turned me down, could have told me to find someone else and just summon you in nine months. Why didn’t you?”

Kylo laughs, a forceful little puff of air, and shakes his head at her with a look that’s half fondness, half exasperation. “ _Rey_. I might not be human, but I _am_ still a man. How was I supposed to turn down a beautiful woman like you?”

Months ago she might have blushed, might have looked away and mumbled something into his chest and let the matter drop. But he’s said prettier words to her – dirtier ones, too – and she’s long since grown immune to all the things he whispers in her ear, all the words that make her heart skip a beat. So she gathers her nerve, looks him dead in the eye, and issues a challenge: “Is that all this is, then?”

Under her touch, his heart skips a beat.

They stare each other down for the longest moment, both of them holding their breath, both of them unblinking – until finally, Kylo blinks on an exhale and captures her lips in a kiss that brings tears to her eyes.

When he kisses her like that… when he acts like he might feel it too, she almost forgets to feel foolish and afraid.

“Rey,” he murmurs, lips close enough to brush hers as he rests their foreheads together, “ _of course_ that’s not all this is.”

She waits, rendered silent by her heart leaping up to her throat. Seconds pass as they regain their breath, but Kylo does not offer up more than that. Instead of words, he brushes their noses together in the sweetest of kisses and curves one hand around her middle.

Their child acknowledges her father with a kick, and the way he smiles at that, the way Rey feels in this moment with her _family_ , is everything.

She knows what she has to do now, knows that no risk is too great in the face of her potential reward laid bare, finally within reach. Her free hand slips down to cover his, and with both of them cradling their baby she finally takes a leap of faith.

“Do you… Kylo, do you–”

“Ben,” he whispers before she can force the words past her lips. “My real name is Ben.”

A spark runs down her spine, the air around them charged with the ancient magic that comes from a member of the fae sharing their true name. It is one of their greatest and only weaknesses, second only to iron, and for a short eternity all Rey can do is stare at him, all wide eyes and parted lips as the moment washes over her.

“ _Ben_ ,” she murmurs, voice hushed with wonder, and nothing has ever felt so right on her lips. He closes his eyes at the sound of his name, his true name, and draws a shaky breath even as the hand on her stomach turns around to lace their fingers together. “Ben, why are you telling me this?”

She has her answer now, but it would be nice to hear the words, Rey thinks, even if it’s just this once. He opens his eyes to the sight of her practically beaming at him, and even the tears in her eyes can’t hide the sight of the smile he offers her in return, the smile she tried so hard not to fall in love with.

“ _Because_ ,” Ben chokes out, sounding as close to tears as she is as he brings their joined hands up so he can press a kiss to her knuckles. “Because I love you. Gods above and below, Rey, _I love you_.”

“I–” She means to say it back, has been waiting _months_ for this opportunity, but a sob escapes her instead. Ben shakes with laughter, with happiness, as his lips find hers, as he whispers it again and again between kisses, confesses how long he’s felt this way and how scared he was to tell her and how devastated he would have been to leave her behind.

They’re idiots, they’re the biggest idiots in the history of idiots, but gods she loves him anyway. And when she finally manages to tell him so between kisses, Ben only holds her tighter and promises to never let go.

And the fae, as everyone knows, cannot tell lies.

**Author's Note:**

> Some things never change, namely: this was meant to be less than a thousand words, and I personally hate the ending but I'm gonna go ahead and hope y'all enjoyed this anyway. It's even more meandering and plotless than my usual fare (which is saying quite a lot), but it's the first time in ages that I've written something just because I felt like it, so here we are.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading and please feel free to reach out in the comments or [say hi on Twitter](https://twitter.com/hiraeth_writes). Stay safe and take care of each other, friends!


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